Traffic laws should be continuously enforced – CAP

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) is demanding for traffic laws to be continuously and strictly enforced, rather than it being seasonal to coincide with local festivals.

According to Bernama, president SM Mohamed Idris claimed that Malaysia was ranked 20th in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 2011 list of countries with the most road deaths, and that the country did not have a good record with law enforcement.

“The enforcement of laws in Malaysia related to speed limits, drunk driving, motorcycle helmets and seat belts was ranked between four to five in a range of 0-10 compared to Singapore’s enforcement, which was ranked between seven to nine,” he said.

Also worrying is the rising number of road accidents in the country, with 18 people killed daily. Indeed, the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) expects that figure to rise to 29 by 2020.

SM Mohamed added that the low traffic fatalities in Singapore were partly the result of strict enforcement – the island nation recorded just four deaths per 100,000 population, while Malaysia had about 24 deaths per 100,000 population.

“Due to the lack of traffic law enforcement, among other reasons, the Perception of Being Caught (POBC) rate among Malaysian road users is low, at a 25% rate on regular days and a 50% rate during the festive seasons when there are road safety operations,” he said.

The president stressed the need to up the POBC rate – which stands at between 80-90% in developed countries – to create more disciplined drivers. Such a move, he said, would dramatically improve the culture of enforcement among the authorities and reduce the propensity of Malaysian drivers to break laws.

The association also called for a special investigation team to reduce corruption in the transport system in the field of traffic offences, road worthiness of vehicles, overloading, driver testing, licensing irregularities and vehicle inspections.

After trying to pursue a career in product design, Jonathan Lee decided to make the sideways jump into the world of car journalism instead. He therefore appreciates the aesthetic appeal of a car, but for him, the driving experience is still second to none.

POBC is rated at 25% is too generous!
Look at the numbers of motorists and motor cyclist jumping red lights, jamming the yellow boxes, cruising down at more than 120 KM/H at Klang Valley express ways and also the housing estate roads.
The POBC is probably around 0.5%.

While enforcement is weak, and the car manufacturers keep on promoting features like Lotus handling, 5 star ANCAP safety, turbo engine this and that, it is no surprise to see more and more accidents happened due to reckless driving like 120km/h cornering, smoking others etc.

Have the money? Buy a M5 have fun at Sepang circuit lar, else behave good and drive safe on roads!

If speed really was the issue, Germans would be extinct by now. If you drive at the speed limit, you’ve got a long queue of angry drivers behind you urging you to go faster. 10-20 km/h above speed limit is the average, and on the highway all hands are off, anything goes. There is no speed limit. Heck, rich people go to Germany on holiday so they can drive fast!

adoi, why CAP ayam go and compare us with Singapore la? ello – Singapore is so small vs Malaysia and the only good reason why people die lesser in accidents than Malaysia is because Malaysia’s blardy road fatalities are mostly motorcyclists.

If I may add; a lot of young cikus on moto/mopeds are not even licensed and to top the irony, u as a car driver must be prepared to get bashed by mat moto simply because he may mistook you for horning him but in actual fact it was a little honk to a fellow mistaken identity like that day.

Singaporean drivers are like Malaysian drivers too too. The only thing they won’t dare do in Sigapore is trying to break traffic laws, because they cannot automatically put their hands into their pockets and retrieve the wallet to dish out $50 for instant fine unlike here in Malaysia.

How to do enforcement when the enforcement officers are always asking for money to tutup mata or settle the saman on the spot?

Everybody in Malaysia knows that the DBKL, JPJ and Polis Trafik officers all have this culture. When they catch offenders, if the offender does not ask, the officer has now become bold to ask. And they are not shy to ask the quantum ie the amount.

Every single Malaysian has experienced an officer asking for money to settle a saman on the spot. I do not condone corruption but most offenders would be tempted to settle the saman at RM50 or RM100 than pay RM300.

I was once asked for money by a cop, I refused to give him. I told him to saman me. Later that week I went to the PJ New Town Balai to pay, a big seargeant approached me out of the blue, told me to give him the ticket he can sort it out. he said RM100 can sort it out but receipt he can only give much later.

At that time, I thought he was going to sort it out for me. 2 weeks later I went back, he said, there was no receipt.

Some may say to complain about the officer, but did I dare to do that? Would I want the whole force after me? Can I sleep at nigh thinking a Molotiv Cocktail be thrown in my house and me and my kids burn to death? So, I decided to let it go.

So, not only the officers on the street are quick to ask for money to make the saman disappear, the guys at the balai also the same. It has become a culture.

So SM Mohamed, it is impossible to eradicate this behaviour because the officers themselves are now brave to ask for money to settle on the spot as well as quote you the amount. It has become a culture among the enforcement department. Go to JPJ, DBKL, Polis Trafik, they all think that way.

there is no way around it unless there is political will ie the Government and ministers make the effort to eradicate this culture of taking money.

But as we know, our Ministers also incompetent and they got no will to eradicate corruption because they are the King of Corruption themselves. They don’t bother about small money, they go for the big contracts involving few hundred millions.

So, when the political masters are dirty themselves, and have no clean hands, they themselves have no will to check on enforcement officers.

the ones will suffer are the consumers and road users. There will be more accidents on the road. Do take note that 7 out of 10 lorry drivers stopped by JPJ are illegal immigrants with no licence nor even proper work permit. But yet, they are happily driving big lorries on the road bullying everybody.

The remaining 3 out 10 10 who got work permit but you check their work permit, they are only permitted to be “gardeners” in Malaysia but are happily driving big lorries up and down.

that is why there are so many road deaths on the road. The lorry drivers make a run for it. Case closed. Despite someone dying, the will be NFA. No Further Action.. Because the the owners of the lorries are probably the Minsiters or relatives of the Ministers.

That is why on the way to Putrajaya and Dengkil, always got road deaths and the lorry driver make a run for it. The polis also so scared to investigate the pemilik lorry. It is always a company that is linked to some Mininster or his relatives.

So, how to prosecute the company and the Minister? In Malaysia, Ministers are above the law right?

Road users now don’t care. They just flaunt the law. They are not scared because they know, in the event they are caught, they either pay a small fine or pay some duit kopi to the officer that issued the saman or just go to balai and settle the saman through the backdoor.

This is why road accidents are going to increase. There is no more deterrent for the offender. There is a collapse of society because offenders are no more worried about being penalised.

Remember the guy who drove that BMW that knocked down the motor guy that came out on facebook and he sped off? That guy had about 100 offences. But he did not care. He drove his car as if Malaysia was a cowboy town with no laws.

Hardcore traffic offenders are no more scared. They know the system well. They just kumpul the saman sampai berlambak lambak and every few years once, just go to balai, negotiate and settle on lump sum but at the fraction of the price.

To make matters worse, all enforcement units have their amnesty day every few years once, and normally offer 70% discount for all saman given in during the amnesty period.

The problem is not only the lack of enforcement, but also the kind of things they only look for.

They should also punish anyone using the emergency lane unless their car has broken down and is stationary.

They should punish people who stick to the middle or right lane when they are not overtaking and the left lane is free. Likewise, though at the moment a lesser offense is overtaking on the left lane. That’s the slow lane. Overtake on the right.

Not paying enough attention, i.e. changing lane when there is already a car should be punished if possible, and if that’s the cause of an accident the offender needs to bear all costs (even if his car wasn’t touched).

Driving fast is not a problem (at least on highways), random behavior is.

Using the emergency lane is an offence. There’s a solid line between the left most lane and the shoulder (or in Malaysia it’s a private POV lane when there’s a jam. Undang undang teaches us not to cross the white line. If you using the shoulder as a express lane thinking that this is a borderline offense, I suggest you stop and reassess the need to take undang-undang again.

As for the 2nd point. I think you are on a roll. It’s not an offense blocking the overtaking lane nor is it law. But we have a social contract to uphold social norms especially when the reminder to keep to the left is displayed repeatedly on the shoulder. Malaysian need to be upholding the social contract. Being socially aware of your role in the community is normally instilled during the schooling years. Unfortunately, our education system has failed us.

Not paying attention is also not a crime. There could be legitimate reason why someone could be turning into traffic unknowingly. Feature like blind spot assist could help with blind spot. In US for example, you can be fine for dangerous driving. But if you’re not texting, have signalled to change lane, or have legitimate reason why you are driving the way you are, you are usually let off easy. We need to make dangerous driving as a compound-able offense.

These are all really moot. The current law-enforcement are just inadequate/incompetent to uphold the existing law as we speak. With rampant corruption, this country is going down the drain.

I don’t think you and kadajawi are disagreeing about the use of the emergency lane. You’re both saying that it is an offense to be on the emergency lane unless you’re experiencing a genuine emergency. This rule should be strictly enforced, esp during traffic jams on highways.

As for the speed limit, it should be increased to 120 km/h at least AND a mandatory MINIMUM speed limit should be introduced for all highways. People who hog the centre and right lanes of highways by driving well below the speed limit are why other drivers get impatient and end up overtaking on the left. Slow moving vehicles must stay out of the passing lanes. And drivers who drive at 60 km/h on the North-South Expressway, should just use he federal road instead. Major highways and bridges in the US have minimum speed limits to ensure that traffic flow is not obstructed or slowed down by slow coaches.

This is why we need more safety equipment in cars sold here. An average of 18 people lose their lives daily. That’s about 6,570 a year, or 0.000219% of our population. I assume most of these deaths are motorcycle drivers. But still, we shouldn’t stop pushing for better safety standards.

Also, Malaysians themselves need to change their attitude on the road. For example :

Comparing to Singapore is just plain stupid. Almost everybody commutes by MRT, so they obviously have less cars in a place at any given time compared to Malaysia. And people who own cars there are ultra rich, you rarely hear people die in Merz, BMW, Porsche, etc.. only Malaysians die in their Kancils and Wiras. Syukur lah.

Pemberi dan penerima rasuah dua2 bersalah.. There are too many videos circulate on web about the traffic offender intended to bribe the police officer but the police officer did not accept it.. and surprise, the traffic offender dare to talk bad about the officer.. what is happening with Malaysian nowadays? Bribery is happening like its not a big deal..

dont forget that road condition also contributes to the death tolls above. Sometimes unpredictable bumps/potholes especially on corners may cause vehicles to lose control, even when driven within speed limit (60-90 km/h). Slippery road, slanted road, etc is one big factors to consider into.

obviously, speed is only one small factor contributing to road accidents. As for AES, i wonder how effective it is in regulating those speeders, since they tend to speedup much more right after the AES point.

I was in Australia few years ago.One fine morning at 9am I was driven to an orchard north of Perth,when suddenly a patrol car stopped us for an “alcohol” test along a lonely “kampong” road.We did not break any law but the big fat Aussie behind us was immediately summoned and stopped from further driving in a drunken state.
The enforcement was done with an element of surprise where you least expect it.
Back home,we keep announcing this campaign and that campaign especially during Raya and CNY.
It is not continuously done and people are not afraid to break the law,many resorting to bribery.
It is only a dream what CAP is hoping.

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